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Was Reconstruction A Success Or Failure Essay

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The Union victory during the Civil War may have given 4 million slaves their freedom but the reconstruction attempts was a flop in the 1860s. The reconstruction was meant to bring the United States back together as one nation but there were faults so ultimately the era of Reconstruction was a failure. The Reconstruction Era in the United States was a failure and included unsuccessful efforts to defend former slaves, thrust freedmen into crippling poverty, and industrialization in the South lasted too long. Reunification of the Union was taken aback when many reconstruction efforts were unsuccessful. Failure to protect former slaves from white persecution and to change the social society in the South did not end well for newly freed slaves. The fourteenth and fifteenth amendment was made to help the freedmen, but whites still found a way to …show more content…

The mass of slaves was released from their previous plantations penniless, without anything to help them get started. Since slaves had no money, they would often go back to the plantation they worked on before. This would result in a cycle that the slaves could not get out of, even if they tried. The slaves would work on the plantation and by the end of there term on the field, they would owe money to the tenant. Usually, contracts were signed, so slaves could not leave the plantation till they didn’t owe money, this cycle basically got African Americans stuck in this cycle for a long time. During the Reconstruction, Era slaves lacked nourishment and medical care which in turn caused a high mortality rate, especially children. The freedmen's bureau was a huge deal for slaves, they helped to provide meals and food, but the organization was not able to build homes for the freed slaves. This was a big problem because even though they were getting food, medical care, and clothes, they had no roof over their

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Just after Reconstruction, life for African Americans began to go downhill as all of their newly gained rights became suppressed because of the new laws and systems that were put in place. Many African Americans that stayed in the South did so because they wanted to continue working in agriculture, and, therefore, had the end goal of getting their own land, which let them fall into the trap that was sharecropping. Africans Americans would rent small plots of land from a landowner, and pay their debts in the form of a portion of their crops. There was also the vagrancy law, which caused any African American that was not working and had no proof that they had a job to be arrested. This leads to the convict lease system, in which wealthy, usually Caucasian American, people rented out prisoners for labor.

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This is yet another example of how reconstruction failed for social reasons. But reconstruction was not only a failure socially, it failed in many ways economically as well. The Freedmen’s Bureau was an organization that provided, food, housing, medical aid, established schools, and offered legal assistance to freedmen. However, they faced many problems in their attempts to achieve these goals (Doc. D). The syllable of the

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The government provided food, clothing, and even land, in attempts to help the Freedmen who have been recently released from slavery. In the Freedmen’s Bureau, it stated, “...may direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel, as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and Freedmen and their wives and children...” (Document D). The government put in place a way for Freedmen to everything they need to start a new life after slavery. They were even generous by even giving them fuel which isn’t even a basic need, and in doing all of this, Freedmen were able to live a healthy life due to the federal government.

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When slavery was abolished, Jim Crow laws were put into effect to keep African Americans and Whites separated. During these times black slaves were to receive 4 acres of land and a mule from the slave owner to repay them for the incarceration as slaves. Due to the split labor market, blacks had a harder time retaining their jobs, and the jobs that were approved for blacks were low paying. Despite the these societal disadvantages against the African American people, some slaves like my great, great, great grandfather, Wesley A. Settles who built the first school in Edgefield, SC where he taught African American children how to read and write, were able to rise and prosper. With his rise and prosperity, he became a victim of racism.

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Slaves took away jobs from the working white class. The masters were teaching slaves how to do the jobs of the working white class so instead of paying them to get a job done, they can now get it done for free. “Their financial opportunity is eliminated” (Pettengill 9-17-2014).They also were subject to ridicule from slave owners because they had no slaves. They were trying to make something of themselves in these colonies and the only way to do that was to work and save enough money to buy slaves. With no jobs, it was difficult to do such a thing.

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Reconstruction a Failure or Success? Throughout the years, America has gone through many different political changes. Many presidents selected with different plans for our future. Sadly, many of those objectives have failed or came to an end.

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The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.

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In the 1800’s blacks were treated very unfairly. In this time period it was very hard for blacks, just being a different color was pretty much a crime. One hardship for slaves and blacks was Segregation. Segregating led to slave codes which were used against slaves for slave owners to have power over them. For example, it was illegal for slaves to marry, own property or weapons, and learn how to read and write.

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Plantation owners relied on slaves brought to American by ships from Africa. The slaves were treated harshly. Many were worked to death with very few enjoying a good life. Families were sold “down the river”. Children were separated from their parents never to be seen again.

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In terms of reconstruction, more specifically the struggle to define the freedom and rights of freed slaves, the efforts were more often a failure than a success. The thirteenth amendment established the abolishment of slavery and indentured servitude, except as payment for a crime. However, the abolishment of slavery did not abolish the discrimination, racism and harassment that they endured. Freed slaves often found themselves working under their former masters in vaguely similar conditions. Yes, they received payment for their labor, but now they had to deal with the added costs of rent, food and other necessities.

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The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

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The Freedmen’s Bureau was founded by Congress in 1865 to help former slaves and poor whites in the South by providing shelter, food, medical support, as well as giving legal assistance, and creating schools for them (Jordan 386). The Freedmen’s Bureau was also supported by carpetbaggers, Northerners who had readily packed up and left for the South, and scalawags, Southerners who supported former slaves and poor whites, both of whom supported the cause of freedom and equality. Thus, through the Freedmen’s Bureau, both black Americans and white Americans were receiving the same necessities, promoting equality amongst these two

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The blacks were stripped from their homes, their families, and most of all, their rights as humans. Many blacks during this time period were born into slavery, and knew no other way of life than to be a slave. The other majority of black folk were free and treated as everyone else, until they would be taken by the whites, only to be put to work for the rest of their lives. Slavery was a big role in history, it showed us that every person, no

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Reconstruction is the time period after the Civil War, where the country attempted to improve the Union. There were many successes, but what also comes along with success is failure. During the reconstruction many failures were present; such as the lack of racial equality and blatant racism towards blacks, a failing economy in the South, and tense relations between the North and the South. This created a very intense and challenging period of time for the Union.

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These African American slave workers at the time of 1865 were displaced from their current jobs and quickly became unemployed. Many of the wealthy southern landowners could not afford to pay their slaves a living wage (Williams 21). This caused an influx of African Americans to migrate to the north to seek employment and shelter (Williams 25). However, due to industrial revolution and arguably discrimination many of these African American were unable to find proper shelters and jobs to support their families. Many of such African Americans started to live on the streets and created “ghettos” which are still present today in parts of northern America like Harlem, Brooklyn, and Chicago (Williams 28).

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